Theatre Is More Beautiful Than War

In almost every area of production, German theatre of the past forty years has achieved a level of distinction unique in the international community. This flourishing theatrical culture has encouraged a large number of outstanding actors, directors, and designers as well as video and film artists. The dominant figure throughout these years, however, has remained the director. In this stimulating and informative book, noted theatre historian Marvin Carlson presents an in-depth study of the artistic careers, working methods, and most important productions of ten of the leading directors of this great period of German staging.

Beginning with the leaders of the new generation that emerged in the turbulent late 1960s—Peter Stein, Peter Zadek, and Claus Peymann, all still major figures today—Carlson continues with the generation that appeared in the 1980s, particularly after reunification—Frank Castorf, Anna Viebrock, Andrea Breth, and Christoph Marthaler—and concludes with the leading directors to emerge after the turn of the century, Stefan Pucher, Thomas Ostermeier, and Michael Thalheimer. He also provides information not readily available elsewhere in English on many of the leading actors and dramatists as well as the designers whose work, much of it for productions of these directors, has made this last half century a golden age of German scenic design.

During the late twentieth century, no country produced so many major theatre directors or placed them so high in national cultural esteem as Germany. Drawing on his years of regular visits to the Theatertreffen in Berlin and other German productions, Carlson will captivate students of theatre and modern German history and culture with his provocative, well-illustrated study of the most productive and innovative theatre tradition in Europe.

Introduction

In almost every area of production, the German theatre of the past forty years
has consistently achieved a level of distinction unique in the international community.
Although its formidable system of theatre subsidy has somewhat declined
in recent years, its theatres remain among the best funded in the world,
and scarcely a town of any...

Part I. The Old Masters

1. Peter Stein

Peter Stein was born in Bad Hamburg, near Frankfurt, in 1937, and
like a number of Germany’s modern leading directors, he entered
the theatre through student productions at the university, in his
case in Munich. When, in 1964, one of his fellow students was invited
to direct at the Munich...

2. Peter Zadek

Peter Zadek holds a unique position among twentieth-century
German directors. On his eightieth birthday (19 May 2006), he was
widely hailed as one of the leading figures of the German theatre
world, still making major contributions after a directing career that
extended over 60 years. Although...

3. Claus Peymann

Born in Bremen in 1937, Peymann enrolled in 1958 at Hamburg
University, where he became involved both in theatre and political
action, and these soon became closely related in Peymann’s
activities. In 1959 he became one of the founders of a “Studio
Theatre” at the University, organized....

Part II. The Successors

4. Andrea Breth

Since the foundation of the German literary stage in the eighteenth
century, theatres in that country have been controlled almost exclusively
by men. Although Carolina Neuber (1697–1760) managed
what is considered the first serious company in this tradition,
very few women have followed...

6. Christoph Marthaler and Anna Viebrock

Christoph Marthaler was born in 1951 in Erlenbach near Zurich.
He pursued studies in music, organizing a local orchestra and
performing on the oboe, flute, and various fourteenth- and
fifteenth-century instruments. His first contacts with the theatre
were, not surprisingly, musical. He began to compose
music for productions in Zurich...

Part III. The Next Generation

7. Michael Thalheimer

8. Thomas Ostermeier

Thomas Ostermeier was born in Soltau, Germany, in 1968. He grew
up in Bavaria where he received his early schooling and entered
the civil service. He became interested in acting, however, and in
1991 went to Berlin where he joined a Faust project being developed
by Einar Schleef at the Academy...

9. Stefan Pucher

Ever since Lessing, the German stage has had a particularly close relationship
with England, most notably in its adoption of Shakespeare
as central to its own classic tradition. In the period covered
by this book, the English stage has been central to the formation
and careers of a number...

Conclusion

“Der Stein Zeit Ist Forbei.” This headline appeared in a Zurich newspaper in
1998, at the end of Peter Stein’s directorship of the Salzburg Festival.1 Most
specifically it translates as “The Stein era is over,” but since Stein is also the
German word for stone, as a pun it announces...

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